Hello! My name is Alia and I'm the founder of Kantara, a fair trade business that imports handwoven rugs directly from women artisans in Morocco. I have been living and working in Morocco since 2005 and while I am now based in New York, I return to Morocco quite frequently.

I first began this business by taking a plunge into rural Morocco and the world of weaving. In the States, I worked with various guilds and professional weavers in the hopes of learning a little bit about the complex craft of weaving. In Morocco, I became an astute learner of not only Darija, the Moroccan dialect, and also of the Amazigh languages that are spoken in Morocco's rural areas.

The result of both of these efforts is evident throughout the blog-- a delicate understanding of the nature of weaving in Morocco. For more information about buying or custom-ordering Moroccan rugs from Kantara, check out thewebsite.